Over 20,000 teddy bears hit ice at hockey game

UPDATED 1:25 AM HST Dec 05, 2012

You’ll surely be booed if you suddenly hurl something onto the ice rink at the middle of an intense hockey game. But if you’d throw a cuddly stuffed animal at the annual teddy bear toss in Canada, thousands will follow.

About 21,453 teddy bears rained down on hockey players at the recent Calgary Hitmen’s game in Alberta, Canada.

The 18th annual Petro-Canada Teddy Bear Toss collected stuffed animals for children in need, and threw them all onto the rink. Calgary Hitmen’s goalie, Pavlo Padakin, triggered the bear toss when he scored in the first period of the game.

Padakin told Calgary Herald that before the game players were guessing who would score the first goal and send the fuzzy teddy bears flying.

“But when I scored it was unbelievable. I feel really good,” Padakin said.

The toys, a tenth of the 213,000 stuffed animals collected since 1999, will be donated to sick patients at the Alberta Children’s Hospital.

The video of the teddy bear toss has been viewed more than 472,000 times on YouTube.